Social distancing – on The Strip – in Las Vegas, Nevada?
Have you seen the photos? The Strip is DARK. It would be a great time to shoot futuristic dystopian movie about how the world went dark as the result of a Chinese biowarfare experiment that escaped containment that they blamed on bats…
With the exception of on-line gaming, which isn’t all that fun unless you’re one of those people who is also inclined to wager on which fly buzzes off the cheesecake first, the engine that fuels Nevada is a social distancing nightmare.
The State of Nevada earns gaming revenue from three sources:
- Sales Tax
- Entertainment Tax
- Gaming Tax
For the past three years under Trump, Nevada has been making money hand over fist and the state established a rainy day fund just in case something happened. It happened, and despite the gaming industry being included in the congressional bail-out, Nevada will be squeezed like a grape.
In Las Vegas (the Temple of the Living Elvis) a billion dollars changed hands every twenty minutes. It doesn’t anymore. It used to.
The economy will come back, but will people be comfortable crowing into theaters to see an aging music artist or show the way that they used to? People have short memories, but are they short enough to keep the gaming/entertainment/food and beverage business alive in Nevada?
For now, the gaming industry is still sending checks to furloughed workers, but how long will that last?
I used to consult with the Nevada Gaming Control Board on money laundering and taught a few classes on the subject. What will the money launderers do? What will the hookers do? What will happen to the underground economy that kept a lot of money moving, changing hands (a billion every twenty minutes) in The Temple of the Living Elvis?
The Nevada Resort Assn. published an economic analysis last week indicating that 320,000 employees relying on $1.3 billion a month in salaries are immediately at risk.
I’ve seen pictures of The Strip and it’s completely deserted. Haven’t seen any night pictures, so I don’t know if they’re keeping all the neon lit….
And since I don’t drink, don’t gamble, and don’t care for the shows, why is it I find Vegas such an interesting place? The times I’ve been there I loved it.
Must be the history of it or something…..
Mob history?
Growing up in the Chicago area, I have quite an interest in what the family is doing.
I think it might be more the “Rat Pack” mystique that draws me in. When I was a little kid and they were at their peak I thought they were the coolest guys in the world, right below Astronauts and Jet Fighter Pilots…
I worked a lot in Las Vegas because a lot of interesting people cycled through the place. They met with other interesting people and the less said of all that the better.
Seeing the place dead is emblematic.
It was about the mob, it was about Chinese whales coming to Vegas and dropping $10 million on a weekend, it was food, beverage and hospitality. And we’re seeing the history of Nevada being written before our eyes. Some of it will come back, but a lot of things will change.
I watched a TV show and saw people shaking hands and recoiled. The space issues that people will come away with. A certain paranoia will remain and the allure of being packed together with other people will lose a lot of appeal. This will change behavior and to some extent, it will change culture.
“Casino” is a snapshot of that era, and I consider it very well done, irregardless of who starred in it.
I think that Casino is very well done. Oscar Goodman, the mob lawyer played himself. I arrested Mike Toney, who appeared briefly, on a murder-for-hire case.
Glorifying the era isn’t a bad thing. It’s just what it was. A lot changed since the film was made in Vegas. Things became more corporate, but each major casino had a “mob rep”. Sometimes a pit boss or a junket rep, but they all had one. Essentially they made sure that mob types were accommodated, and were catered to while in town and on that property.
I have some compassion for the people affected, but for me, it is a big yawn. My idea of gambling (other than $20 a month on th Lottery) is to see if I can get loaded on the comp drinks before I lose $20.
As I mentioned with Mike_C, it’s not about gaming. It’s watching an entire US State circle the drain. And it impacts us all.
If you want to shoot a movie in a post-apocalyptic setting, just go to Detroit on any Tuesday. Or any day of the week, really.
As to Las Vegas I personally have below zero interest. It’s not any sort of moral disapproval, I’m just exceedingly uninterested in gambling. (Once again, I am truly sh*t at being a Chinaman. Alas.)
Mike_C, what kind of Chinaman are you? You should be at the Baccarat table at Caesar’s, dropping $200K a hand. Ok, you can’t now because the place is closed, but you have a heritage, expectations to keep up.
I don’t gamble either. My concern isn’t for the gaming industry. It’s the billions of dollars that went to buy stuff, to pay people, and the exchange that won’t be going on. And that impacts all of us. Nevada won’t be coming back anytime soon. People won’t have the money to go and play and the place will go into a death spiral. I have no idea where the bottom is for Nevada, but housing prices will tank, banks will foreclose, and it will ripple out. East Coast destinations like Atlantic City will be wounded but that’s an entire US State.
Robo-Cop was a post-apocalyptic movie.
And not a bad film for its time.
Not just Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Gulf Coast are feeling the pinch too… Lots of folks will be out of work. The other ‘interesting’ thing is how much the flow of drugs has dropped off… Heroin, fentanyl, Meth, and Coke are all down. Street prices are getting exorbitant and junkies desperate…
Interesting times, Old NFO. Interesting times.
I expect all the “glitterati” will be back there in no time. They have their image to uphold, and they need to tell us dirt people how bad we are about this, that and the other thing.
Because they think we care.
I don’t visit those places; but the Tunica-Biloxi tribe here in Louisiana runs a great buffet at their casino when it’s open, and I would definitely enjoy eating there again when we are finally allowed to mingle again.
I hope so. But I doubt it, Linda G. Vegas will still exist, but it will be a long time coming back
The Indian casino in a nearby town FINALLY closed 9 days ago.
I predict close to zero tourist revenue on the Oregon coast this summer.
How much does the Oregon Coast rely on tourism to keep the doors open?
“…futuristic dystopian movie about how the world went dark as the result of a Chinese biowarfare experiment that escaped containment that they blamed on bats…”
Life imitates art Larry?
When does Trashcan Man make his appearance, who possible is the analogous real time dystopian character?
Critical thinking thought: “Imagine of you will”, of an event, the resources and poltikal power inherent in it, that requires the participation of tens of hundreds, my be 10’s of thousands, in a conspiracy to fabricate a false narrative across all main stream media complexes, to the exclusion of all else that occurs naturally across the world, news and knowledge of anything else occurring, but the consequences of a relatively non lethal man created viral disease as it’s central character, in an actual dystopian event.
What is involved here? How much co-ordination, money, and organization to pull off such a grift?
It has all the typical elements of marxian dystopian false flag operation writ large all over it.
(in no way am i discounting the real effects of this virus, or forgetful of those suffering and dying because of it, if anything, that is the central crime against humanity here, perpetrated coldly, as only sociopaths and psychopaths, by this human extinction movement)
The question is, what after Chinese virus? Like what after Trump?
Not just because of the present time implications behind it all, which must be pretty close to blowing their whole nut to stop a number of truths from outing, A typical tactics, to keep certain actors and their association from being held to account, their whole construct from being exposed to all and sundry, to stymie the rejection and the defiance by a basket of Deplorable’s, inhibit or destroy somehow the audacity and motive power of an indomitable and armed plurality of the dirt people?
I keep asking myself after this, whats left as far as resources which can be dedicated to retaining the power of globo=pedo world order?
What does the self respecting tyrant in this case do for an encore? What lengths are to be taken when the present debacle fails to accomplish the intended objectives? As it appears to be failing, because if nothing else, lot of good folks, too many, that mysterious plurality they keep trying to dispose of, are not fooled as to the veracity of the approved narratives?
It is pretty obvious these jamokes aren’t going to stop till they are. They have just raised the table stakes. Crisis as a means is a SOP for these actors. And they always lie, they always double down.
It looks like the casino is all in, as in “That spells moon” (There’s a super moon on the 7th)
Call me crazed, call me anything you like. The only thing these fuckers have left with a possibility of success, after this panic-demic loses steam, is the strategic use of nukes. Just the use of one tactical dial a bomb in say DC, they kill a lot of birds with one stone. Mainly they finally take out orangemanbad and the overhanging threat of his ultimate option of declaring Martial Law, in order to take full power as the God Emperor.
I’ll go out even further on the branch and contend, this whole false flag op was already, long past, made in preparation for the time of She who they thought could never lose.
Always figured She who could never lose purpose was to be the master of ceremonies in a grand event of crisis as a means. After all her and her serial Rhodes Scholar woman raping partner in organized crime, brought us the false flag operation as institutional order SOP. The Clinton Global Initiative indeed.
Seriously, we best be thinking what after Chinese Corona virus. The virus will burn itself out, the panic will subside, knowing President Trump, he will effect much positive change. A good leader of good folks always makes lemonade out of lemons. The point is the Chinese virus will end up being not so bad, as it is good for many things in the positive, like hard love is.
Larry, whats next?
You don’t need to answer it, just want you to know I value and appreciate your insights and wisdom more than anything.
It’s like a hypothetical question, maybe more rhetorical I think, and do any of us know the answer? Regardless it’s one we all got to be asking ourselves.
At some point we are going to have to fish or cut bait.
These people are not going to stop. They certainly where not going to take their ball and go home because of MAGA and America First.
Who else is there except us dirt people to stop them? I don’t see anybody but us.
I think that you’re reading a lot of tea leaves. The PRC will try to keep being the world’s hedgemon. The Russians will want to keep a toe in the big game; Europe will continue to devolve; Mexico will continue to be a failed narco state; the planet won’t warm up and we’re unlikely to see the planet turn into a cinder in 8 years.
Americans tend to be a complacent lot. Maybe the plague will cause us to reflect on what is most important. But I doubt it.
It’s weird, but I’ve never been to Vegas, maybe because gambling doesn’t appeal, monkeys aside. And now, when I do go, it’ll be something different.
Speaking of supply chains, a friend in central London’s reported that junkies are fighting below his flat because of… supply and demand.
I’ve heard that the world’s illegal narcotic supply chain was severely damaged by the plague. Now, if you’ve been following the news, the US has launched a new anti-narco initiative with ships, aircraft and people to break the back of the cartels.
It’s been tried before.
As to Vegas (The Temple of the Living Elvis), you can have fun there without gambling. As a non-gambler, I usually end up in comedy clubs, maybe take in a show like “O”. I was there a lot for work. I don’t think that I’ve been to Las Vegas once in the past ten five.
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